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Mar 7, 2012

Exiled Libyan monarchy shamelessly admit their role in fomenting Libyan war

Brussels April 2011.

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"The European Parliament is preparing for democratic change in Libya.

The "severe impoverishment" must be relative and apply to the half dozen sheiks who feel they have a right to run things, since Libya has the highest standard of living in Africa, thanks to Kadhafi's wicked policies."

Libya was a monarchy from 1951 to 1969 until Muammar Gaddafi staged a coup d'état against King Idris, launching the Libyan Revolution. Since then, the country has experienced an increasingly brutal and dictatorial regime that has led to the oppression and severe impoverishment of its people.

We are now privileged to be able to have the current Crown Prince of Libya, HRH Sayyid Mohammed al-Rida bin Sayyid Hasan ar-Rida al-Mahdi El Senussi, currently living in exile, come to the European Parliament to engage in an exchange of views on the future of Libya and to offer his unique and critical perspective into the ongoing situation in Libya.

I am delighted to invite you to take part in this exchange of views, which will take place on Wednesday 20th April, starting 10:30 am, in room P7C050.

Please let me know as soon as possible whether you will be able to attend. If you need access to the European Parliament, please provide us with your name, nationality, date of birth, and ID number.

The great-nephew of the Libyan king ousted by Muammar Qaddafi said his countrymen should be allowed to decide if they want the return of the monarchy, offering his family as a “servant of the Libyan people,” he told the Associated Press in an interview.

The prince was working, he said, to ensure that "the future of Libya will be bright, and when I say bright I mean a country with a constitution, with health care system, with freedom of speech and also justice."

Idris had complete control of the army and a good deal of influence over the parliament, which was mainly composed of powerful tribal leaders. In addition Libya, an arid, impoverished country with crop production limited to the narrow coastline, could not flourish without heavy "aid" from Western powers. In time, younger citizens, especially the military,grew tied of the king's conservative policies and extreme dependence on the West.[1]

King Idris, leader of the Sanusi, and his British handlers

The Libyan monarchy of Idris, which was based in Benghazi, was installed by the United States and British in the 1950’s to oversee their economic and military interests in North Africa. Libya in 1951, under the leadership of King Idris, had amoung the lowest standards of Living in the world. The Idris monarchy was overthrown in a bloodless revolution led by Muammar al-Gaddafi in 1969. This led to the American Wheelus Air Base (The largest American base outside of US at that time) being dismantled and the American and British armed forces stationed in Libya evacuating. The western oil companies were then nationalised. [2]

December 2012.

The uprising in Libya, which has been portrayed by many in the west as a democratic movement, has been symbolised by the tri-coloured rebel flag. The flag is in fact the flag of the oppressive, undemocratic, monarchy of Idris. At the start of the conflict elements of the rebels in Benghazi held aloft pictures of King Idris. Whilst by no means are all the rebels monarchists, it is however important to highlight the overthrown Libyan monarchy’s history, influence in Benghazi and relationship with the West. It is of no surprise then that the exiled monarchy of Idris has played a hidden hand in this conflict. Closely working with their old allies in NATO in an attempt to regain their lost status in Libya and ‘return to democracy’ as his Royal Highness Prince Idris bizarrely and unashamedly declares in his CNN interview.

Tribal leaders threaten to start break-up of Libya Photo:Reuters

March 2012.

Tribal leaders and militia commanders in eastern Libya declared the formation of a semi-autonomous region Tuesday, raising fears that the country is witnessing the first stages of disintegration six months after the fall of Colonel Moammar Gadhafi.

A conference of about 3,000 delegates in Benghazi installed Ahmed al-Senussi, a great nephew of Libya's former king, as head of the new Cyrenaica Provincial Council. [3]

July 2011.

An Imperialist Project to Create Three Libyas

During the Second World War the Libyans [King Idris] allowed Britain to enter their country to fight the Italians and the Germans.

Benghazi fell to British military control on November 20, 1942, and Tripoli on January 23, 1943.

Despite its promises to allow Libya to become an independent country, London intended to administer the two Libyan provinces of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica separately as colonies, while Paris was given control over the region of Fezzan (Fazzan), which is roughly one-third of Libya and the area to the southwest of the country bordering Algeria, Niger, and Chad.

Following the end of the Second World War the victors and Italy attempted to partition Libya into territories that they would govern over as trust territories. It is because of the failure of this project that the Libyans gained independence as a united nation.

Once the matter was handed to the U.N. General Assembly, the Britishandthe Italians made a last-ditch proposal on May 10, 1949, called the Bevin-Sfora Plan for Libyathat consisted in dividing Libyan territory into an

Italian-controlled Tripolitania,

a British-controlled Cyrenaica,

and a French-ruled Fezzan.

The motion failed by a vote of one and if it were not for the crucial vote of Haiti the U.N. would have portioned Libya into three separate countries.

The Bevin-Sfora Plan for Libya

Today, in the context of the US-NATO led war, the objectives to divide Libya into the three territories of Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, and Fezzan are very much alive.

James Clapper Jr., the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, had testified to the U.S. Senate in March 2011 that at the end of the conflict Libya would revert to its previous federalist divisions which existed under the monarchy and that the country would have two or three different administrations.

Thus, effectively Britain, France and Italy have resumed their neocolonial project to balkanize Libya into three separate states.

All three countries have acknowledged sending military advisors to the Transitional Council: “Italian Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa said 10 military instructors would be sent and details were being worked out.

He spoke Wednesday [April 20, 2011] after meeting with his British counterpart, Liam Fox.” It is most likely that hundreds of NATO and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) military advisors and special troops are operating on the ground in Libya.

France has openly admitted funnelling weapons into the Western Mountains to forces hostile to the Tripoli government.

This constitutes a breach of U.N. security council resolution 1973. It constitutes a blatant violation of international law. The French government claims that they are sending weapons to civilians to protect themselves. This is a non-sequitur argument. It has no legal standing whatsoever and is an utter lie.

Weapons' shipments have also been flown into Benghazi by these Western European powers and the U.S. under the disguise of humanitarian aid. Moreover there are signs that the small insurgency in the Western Mountains was coordinated by U.S. diplomats in November 2010.

One U.S. diplomat was asked to leave Libya in November 2010 for making unauthorized secret trips to the area, just as U.S. and French diplomats have done in Hama to stroke tensions in Syria.

This war seeks to create divisions within Libyan society.

Admiral Stravridis, the U.S. commander in charge of NATO, has told the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee in March 2011 that he believed that Qaddafi’s support base would shrink as the tribal cleavages in Libya came “into play” as the war proceeded.

What Stravridis indirectly spelled out is that the NATO operations in Libya will cause further internal divisions through igniting tribal tensions that will cement regional differences. This is one of the real aims of the bombing campaign.

The U.S. and NATO also know full well that if Colonel Qaddafi is gone that the Libyan tribes would bicker amongst themselves for power and be politically divided. This is why they have been very adamant about removing Qaddafi.

The U.S., Britain, France, Italy, and NATO have all banked on a power vacuum that would be left by Qaddafi if he leaves power or dies.

This is why they want to kill him.

They have calculated that there will be a mad dash to fill the power vacuum that will help divide Libya further and promote violence.They are also very well aware that any tribal conflicts in Libya will spread from North Africa into West Africa and Central Africa.